How to conduct supply chain analysis

How to analyze the supply chain? In the workplace life, suppliers refer to enterprises that provide raw materials, equipment and other resources for the production of enterprises and the research and development of scientific research units. We should make preparations in advance to prevent accidents. Below I sorted out how to analyze the supply chain.

How to analyze the supply chain 1 1, and what is the supply chain?

The term supply chain vividly describes the flow process of products or raw materials from suppliers to manufacturers, distributors, retailers and customers.

Supply chain covers all the functions of accepting and satisfying customers' needs, including but not limited to the following: new product development, marketing, production and operation, distribution, finance and customer service.

Take the system flow of convenience store as an example:

2. Supply chain objectives

The goal of supply chain should be to maximize the overall value of supply chain. The value generated by supply chain (that is, supply chain surplus) should be the difference between the total income from customers and the total cost consumed by supply chain.

Supply chain surplus = customer income value-supply chain cost

3. The viewpoint of supply chain process

The supply chain consists of a series of processes and processes that occur in different links and between different links, as shown in the following structure diagram:

Circular view of supply chain process

Each cycle occurs on the interface of two adjacent links in the supply chain, that is, each link has its own process and there are corresponding interactions between links.

Push/pull view of supply chain process

Pull process: execute the order according to the customer's order.

Driving process: the execution of orders is based on forecasting customers' orders.

Macro-process of enterprise supply chain

Supply chain management generally divides the supply chain process into the following three macro processes:

The macro process of customer relationship aims at generating customer demand, placing orders and tracking the ordering process, including marketing, pricing, sales, order management and call center management.

The main purpose of macro-process of internal supply chain management is to meet the needs of customer relationship management process efficiently at the lowest possible cost, including site selection and warehouse capacity planning, deciding what products to keep in each warehouse, formulating inventory management strategies, and picking, packaging and delivering goods according to orders.

The main purpose of the macro process of supplier relationship management is to arrange and manage the supply resources of different products and services, including selecting suppliers for various commodities, evaluating suppliers, negotiating prices and delivery terms with suppliers, sharing supply and demand plans with suppliers, and handling replenishment orders.

These three macro processes control information flow, product flow and capital flow to generate, receive and fulfill customer orders.

4. Strategic matching of supply chain

Strategic matching

Generally, there are competition strategy and supply chain strategy at the company level, and strategic matching means that the competition strategy and supply chain strategy should have the same goal.

Competitive strategy is generally closely related to the company's competitors, which defines the customer needs that need to be met through the company's products and services. The focus of supply chain strategy is the acquisition of raw materials, the transportation of materials, the manufacture of products or the operation of services provided, the distribution and follow-up services of products, and whether these processes are solved by the company itself or outsourced.

Achieve the strategic matching goal:

The competitive strategy should be matched with all functional strategies to form a coordinated and unified overall strategy. Any functional strategy must support other functional strategies and help the company achieve its competitive strategic goals.

Different functional departments of the company must properly construct their own processes and allocate resources in order to successfully implement these strategies.

The overall supply chain strategy design and the role of each link must be coordinated to support the supply chain strategy.

Choosing the Right Supply Chain Function

Every customer's demand will affect the uncertainty of potential demand. According to the different degree of potential demand, products with different characteristics can be distinguished (as shown in Figure 2), and products with different characteristics need supply chain support with different functions.

Products with low uncertainty of potential demand generally have the characteristics of few varieties, large batch and long production cycle, which requires high efficiency of supply chain;

Products with high potential demand uncertainty generally have the characteristics of diversification, flexible batch size and short order lead time, so the responsiveness of supply chain is required.

Efficiency corresponds to an efficient supply chain, aiming at reducing the cost of the supply chain.

Responsiveness corresponds to reactive supply chain (sometimes called flexibility), which is a kind of supply chain that pursues rapid response to customers.

The most popular categories are lean supply chain and agile supply chain.

Efficient supply chain is often push-driven, that is, forecast-driven, which makes supply chain nodes cooperate closely, reduces the cost of sales, production, logistics and supply, and realizes cost competitive advantage.

Generally speaking, the reactivity is pull, that is, the mode of order pull (MTO). By improving the flexibility and speed of production, supply, logistics and sales, we can realize rapid response to customers' personalized and diversified needs.

When both demand and supply are stable, the matching is an efficient supply chain.

When demand and supply are uncertain, agile supply chain matches it.

When the demand is determined and the supply is uncertain, match the risk-averse supply chain.

When the final supply is determined and the demand is uncertain, the reactive supply chain should be adopted.

How to conduct supply chain analysis 2 1, and turn the data into simple and operable opinions.

John Abel, CIO of Extreme Networks, a network technology service provider, said that most enterprises have a large amount of data, which is usually stored in different systems and databases. He added that the complexity of the supply chain has increased because extended partners such as outsourcing, logistics and distribution will generate additional data sources.

Abel said, "Therefore, it is difficult for many people to use these data to generate meaningful insights beyond top indicators and descriptive statistics. Data analysis tools can provide deeper and operational insights and improve the accuracy of these insights. "

Abel said that the successful foundation of supply chain data analysis strategy includes ensuring that internal and external data are brought together in a structured format; Focus the results of data items on what actions are needed to promote performance indicators; And ensure that the results are easy to understand.

He said, "The last and most important point is that it usually tends to focus on the model used rather than the output. Because many technology leaders want to incorporate artificial intelligence into their processes. But the more important goal is to focus on providing clear, interpretable and easy-to-understand insights for business users. "

Any report or dashboard shared by cross-functional teams must clearly tell an easy-to-understand story. Abel said, "Otherwise, the benefits of data analysis may be eclipsed by holding a lengthy meeting to explain its value."

Abel said, "This works in turn. Although most data analysts do not have a deep understanding of the business processes and systems that generate data, they usually have a broad understanding of upstream and downstream processes and systems. A successful supply chain analysis project starts from the perspective of' what does the data tell us' and then has a deep understanding of the business process. "

He said that the cooperation between the analysis team and business users helps to develop these interpretable insights, which can be easily conveyed throughout the enterprise.

2. Focus on the analysis in the field of differentiation

Erik eric singer, a global supply chain expert at consulting firm North Highland Worldwide Consulting, said that many supply chain enterprises are troubled by data such as customer orders, project information, equipment utilization rate and changing transportation costs.

Singleton said, "These companies need to build a successful customer-centric supply chain. The key to maximizing operational efficiency is to use correct analysis to make data-driven decisions."

He suggested that supply chain enterprises should focus their analysis on three main areas:

The first is demand planning and inventory arrangement. Singleton said, "By collecting millions of transaction data, enterprises can make a powerful analysis of customers' buying patterns. Use these data to build a powerful analysis algorithm, promote the inventory distribution of the whole supply chain, and ensure that products appear in the right place at the right time. Enterprises should focus their analysis resources on forecasting demand patterns among product types, sales channels and geographical locations. "

The second area is operational efficiency. Singleton said, "Customer and order data enables the supply chain to adapt to fluctuating demand patterns by effectively scheduling resources, thus maximizing the use of assets and labor. Adjust the labor plan, increase resources during peak periods, and arrange the maintenance of equipment/assets during low periods, so that enterprises can maximize efficiency and reduce operating costs. "

The third area is order execution path decision. Singleton said, "Customers want the supply chain to be more flexible and customer-centric than ever before, and products can reach the end customers in many ways." Enterprises need to balance various factors, including service expectations, transportation and fulfillment costs and inventory levels, to determine the best way to fulfill orders. "

Singleton said that using analysis to balance cost and customer experience is essential to remain competitive.

3, using real-time data processing interrupt

Abel said that with the increasing scale and complexity of the global supply chain, it is becoming more and more difficult to manage and respond to fluctuations in the entire supply chain.

Abel said, "With the rapid change of data points, analysis and decision-making are usually based on outdated information, which is further aggravated by the time required to effectively analyze the data. In order to successfully control this, supply chain managers need to develop parallel planning systems to optimize demand and supply by using advanced analysis and real-time visibility of the entire supply chain. "

Abel said that historically, updates have been based on a specific time frame and may be updated every day or hour. He said, "But the current measures are not enough. Due to the constant fluctuation of demand and supply, it is best to integrate the system with major suppliers in order to get updates in real time. "

If the supplier changes, the enterprise needs to immediately understand the potential impact, so as to make a replacement plan to maintain its commitment to customers. Abel said, "Advanced analysis using real-time data feedback enables supply chain managers to quickly model and evaluate the impact of potential disruptions, so they can plan and execute fluctuations in demand, supply and inventory."

Abel pointed out that these insights can also be used to understand the potential impact of supply chain constraints on revenue forecasts. The near real-time visibility and real-time analysis of data such as reservation, delivery, inventory level, supplier commitment, discount and pipeline sales opportunities are very important for enterprises to monitor and manage revenue forecast.

Abel said, "By using advanced analysis and automation, these variable data inputs can be used to create tracking models, enabling supply chain teams to respond to changes in near real time, formulate emergency measures, and provide more accurate revenue forecasts."

How to carry out supply chain analysis 3 supplier management and its role

Suppliers refer to enterprises that provide raw materials, equipment and other resources for the production of enterprises and the research and development of scientific research units. Suppliers can be production enterprises or circulation enterprises. In order to ensure normal production and uninterrupted research process, enterprises must have a number of reliable suppliers to provide them with necessary materials, which shows their important position. The purpose of supplier management is to establish a stable and reliable supplier management team to provide high-quality products for end customers.

Fast service guarantee. A good supplier is the guarantee of high quality, and an excellent supplier is an important asset of the organization, which will bring rich returns to the organization that buys its products or services. In order to establish a good supplier relationship and overcome the traditional concept of supplier relationship, supplier management has become a very valuable work.

Establish a new cooperative relationship between buyers and suppliers.

The purchaser and supplier are two node members of the same value chain, and they are an organic whole. In this value chain, consumers' minimum requirements for products and services in terms of cost, quality and service have become the performance management goals pursued by all participating members in the chain. As a member of the chain, it is a long-term solution for each member of the chain to take into account the interests of other members while considering their own interests and ensure their own reasonable profits. Both supply and demand sides must fully consider this interest criterion and establish a good cooperative relationship. The good cooperative relationship between buyers and sellers gradually broke away from the traditional model and gradually formed a new relationship model beneficial to both buyers and sellers.